


Love Multiplies

by creampuffqueen



Series: Future Family Fics [25]
Category: Renegades - Marissa Meyer
Genre: F/M, Kids, Pregnancy, also poor nova, baby shopping, parenting, poor baby
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-07
Updated: 2020-04-07
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:48:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23535541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/creampuffqueen/pseuds/creampuffqueen
Summary: A tumblr request where Lina is worried her parents won't love her as much with a new baby on the way.
Relationships: Nova Artino | Nightmare/Adrian Everhart | Sketch
Series: Future Family Fics [25]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1538509
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	Love Multiplies

“Lina, do you want to go with me to the store and pick out some things for the baby?” Adrian asked his daughter as he finished tying his shoes. 

“Can I have ice cream later?” She responded with a giggle. She padded up to her father, still in her p.j’s. 

“We’ll see.” Adrian said, pulling her onto his knee and kissing her head. “But I have to go get some things for your baby sister, and Mama’s asleep.”

“Mama’s _always_ asleep.” Lina complained. “She never wants to play anymore.”

“I know, sweetheart.” Adrian told her. “But remember, Mama’s growing a baby in her tummy right now, and sometimes that makes her feel sick and tired.”

Lina shrugged, and crawled off his lap. She teleported away, and Adrian heard her giggles in her bedroom. He walked down the hallway and opened the door, watching as Lina dug around in her dresser for some clothes.

Nova’s pregnancy had been hard on her. She was throwing up until she was six months along, and was always exhausted. She barely made it up in time to see Lina off on her first day of school, which Adrian knew she still felt awful about.

Their apartment was small and cramped, and seemed to be growing more so by the day. Lina’s bedroom was now both for her and the new baby, with her twin bed pushed into a corner to make room for the crib and changing station.

Lina got herself dressed, but still needed her father to tie her shoes for her. Adrian did so happily, and held her hand as they walked out of the apartment.

They walked to the car, and Adrian buckled his daughter into her carseat. He got into the driver’s seat and peered back, smiling to himself as he watched her kicking her feet happily.

Lina read all the billboards out loud as they drove, sometimes stumbling over long words, but her reading skills impressed Adrian nonetheless.

They arrived at the Babies R Us store, and Adrian got Lina out of the car and held onto her as they entered. Her brown eyes widened as she took in all the things around her.

“Daddy, can we get this for the baby?” She wiggled out of his arms and grabbed a plush teddy bear from a rack.

“Sure thing, sweetheart.” Adrian put it in the basket, and Lina ran to the front to hang off the cart. She giggled happily as he pushed the cart around the store, searching for the last things they were missing.

They’d gotten rid of most of Lina’s baby stuff a few years ago, meaning that they had to get everything brand new for the new baby girl.

As Adrian piled more and more things into the cart, Lina grew quieter and quieter. She jumped off the front of the cart and walked beside him, holding his hand tightly.

While Adrian noticed her sudden silence, he was more focused on getting everything from the list he’d made the night before, when he looked around the apartment and realized they had nothing for babies anymore.

“Sweetheart, can you go grab those sippy cups over there? I’m gonna go get some bottles.” Lina nodded, but said nothing, and and moved to grab the pack of bright plastic cups. She dumped them unceremoniously in the basket and then ran back to Adrian, clinging to his legs as he tried to remember what kind of bottles they’d used last time.

With a sigh, he grabbed two different types. The baby could decide which kind she liked best. He moved to the cart, his daughter still holding onto his legs.

“Lina, darling, let go please.” He said. “We’re almost done, and then you can get ice cream for being so patient.” Lina pouted, but let go of his legs and took his hand instead.

She held tight as they navigated the rest of the store, filling up the cart. Diapers, wipes, all kinds of clothes and bibs and burp cloths, pacifiers, bottles, everything under the sun that was for newborns. 

Adrian pushed the cart up to the register and began loading things onto the conveyor belt while Lina watched. That was odd; she loved putting things on the moving belt. 

He paid for everything, wincing at the total, and maneuvered the shopping cart and his five-year-old back out to the car. As he was loading all the bags into the backseat, Lina opened up the door and put herself into her carseat.

Soon, everything was loaded, including Adrian. He started the car and pulled out of the lot, turning the radio up as he did so.

Lina didn’t read the billboards as they drove this time. Instead she sat in silence, kicking her sneaker-clad feet softly in time with the music.

“Daddy?” Adrian looked in the rearview mirror as his daughter spoke up.

“Yes, sweetheart?”

“Does Mama not love me anymore?”

Adrian slammed on the brakes to avoid rear-ending the car in front of him. “ _Evangeline_ , sweetheart-” He pulled into the nearest parking lot so he could turn to face her. 

Lina’s eyes were filled with tears as she looked up on him, bottom lip trembling. “Mama never wants to play with me anymore.”

Adrian unbuckled his seatbelt and crawled into the backseat with his daughter. “Lina, your mama could never not love you. She’s just tired and sick. Things will be better when the baby is born, I promise.”

“But what if Mama still doesn’t love me after the baby is born?” Lina wailed. “And- and- what if she loves the baby more than me?”

Adrian took her out of her carseat and pulled her close. “Evangeline Georgia Everhart, your mother will not ever you less. She will never love anybody more than you.”

“But you’re buying all these things for the baby. And you put all the things in my room for the baby.” 

“Oh, Lina.” Adrian said softly. “You won’t have to share your room with the baby for a while. She’s going to sleep with me and mama until she’s bigger. And I don’t love you any less just because I’m buying things for the baby.”

“Will you and Mama still play with me, even when the new baby gets here?” Lina asked. She wiped at her eyes with a sniffle.

“We will.” Adrian kissed his daughter’s curly hair, and her chubby cheeks, and her little hands. He kissed her until her cries turned to giggles, and she squirmed in his arms, laughing.

“Lina, your mother and I will never not love you. No matter how many babies there are, we will still love you.” He didn’t bother to mention that this would likely be the last baby. He wasn’t going to put Nova through another pregnancy again.

“If you love me, does that mean I can have an ice cream cone?” Lina asked with a snicker.

Adrian chuckled. “It does. But don’t get used to it. Love doesn’t conquer cavities, little miss.”

He buckled Lina back into her seat and got back to the driver’s side, taking the car out of park. 

As he drove to Lina’s favorite ice cream parlor, he smiled as he listened to her reading out loud again, making funny sounds for the words she didn’t know.

Each laugh, each giggle, every happy noise, made him become enchanted with her all over again. His little girl, no longer so little. His daughter. The one he would never stop loving, even to the end of his days.

**Author's Note:**

> Check out my tumblr @creampuffqueen!


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